Plot Summary
Chapter VII of Animal Farm takes place during a bitter winter that brings severe food shortages to the farm. The animals work desperately to rebuild the windmill while contending with near-starvation, but Napoleon is determined to conceal the farm's troubles from the outside world. He uses Mr. Whymper, the human solicitor, as an unwitting propaganda tool—ordering the nearly empty grain bins to be filled with sand and topped with a thin layer of grain so that Whymper will report that Animal Farm is thriving.
The Hens' Rebellion
When Napoleon announces that the hens must surrender four hundred eggs per week to be sold through Whymper, the hens stage the first open act of rebellion since the expulsion of Jones. Led by three young Black Minorca pullets, they fly up to the rafters and smash their eggs on the floor rather than hand them over. Napoleon responds with ruthless efficiency: he orders all rations to the hens cut off entirely. After five days of holding out, nine hens have died, and the rest capitulate. The deaths are officially attributed to coccidiosis.
Rewriting History
Meanwhile, Snowball becomes Napoleon's all-purpose scapegoat. Squealer announces that Snowball was actually Jones's secret agent all along and that his supposedly heroic actions at the Battle of the Cowshed were a deliberate attempt to lead the animals to defeat. When Boxer protests that Snowball fought bravely and was wounded, Squealer insists that the wound came from Napoleon's own teeth, not from Jones's buckshot. Napoleon himself is awarded the new decoration "Animal Hero, First Class" for his role in the battle. The animals' memories grow confused, and eventually most accept the revised version of events.
The Purge
The chapter reaches its horrifying climax when Napoleon summons all the animals to the yard. Surrounded by his nine enormous dogs, he forces confessions from those who have opposed him. The four pigs who had protested Napoleon's decision to end Sunday meetings are dragged forward; after confessing to conspiring with Snowball and working for Frederick, they are torn apart by the dogs. The three hens who led the egg rebellion confess next, followed by a goose and several sheep, each admitting to increasingly absurd "crimes." By the end of the purge, a pile of corpses lies at Napoleon's feet.
Aftermath and the End of "Beasts of England"
The surviving animals creep away to the knoll, shaken and grief-stricken. Boxer, unable to comprehend the violence, concludes that the fault must lie within themselves and resolves to work even harder. Clover gazes over the farm with profound sadness, reflecting that this is not the future the animals envisioned when they drove Jones away. Several animals begin singing "Beasts of England," the anthem of the Rebellion, but Squealer arrives to announce that the song has been abolished by special decree—the Rebellion is over, so the song is no longer needed. It is replaced by a bland new composition by Minimus, Napoleon's poet, which the animals find hollow and uninspiring.